In baseball history, nine players have signed guaranteed contracts worth over $200 million. Five of those contracts have been for ten years. Two of the five belong to Alex Rodriguez; the others include…

The domestic football season has already started in both France and England, with Germany, Italy and Spain’s leagues following hot on their heels. As each league kicks off, the competition over which is…

Heard the one about the Belgian, the Frenchman, the Argentine, Brazilian, and the Bosnian?
EPAAugust 14, 2014

Over the next nine months, countless people will marvel at Manchester City or berate Jose Mourinho without ever really grasping how powerful and all-pervasive the Premier League has become. While 21st-century…

Back in 1990, while living in the Leicester suburb of Oadby, I spent two balmy summer evenings watching Oadby Town (currently of the United Counties League) play games to mark the opening of their new…

The two highest paid coaches at this year’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil were Russia’s Fabio Capello ($11,235,210) and England’s Roy Hodgson ($5,874,570). Both of these teams exited from the World Cup after…

Television audiences may be fragmenting, but sport happens in the moment and demands instant – and lucrative – congregation.
EPA/Fernando Bizerra JrJuly 1, 2014

As the group stage of the World Cup draws to a close, while it’s the joy of qualification for some, it’s the crushing disappointment of an early exit for others. And, in the post-mortem which inevitably…

This Russian goalkeeping fail was brought to you by Visa.
EPAJune 19, 2014

By now, the names Moy Park, Oi and Yingli are deeply embedded in your brain, right? And, you know what they are, where they are from and what they do, agreed? Or are you struggling with them: perhaps these…

On the eve of the World Cup, football seems bigger and more dominant than ever. It’s the world’s richest, most watched and most played sport. The summer Olympics is the only sporting event able to match…

Ever wondered what the World Cup is worth? When Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga designed the current trophy in 1971, it was worth US$50,000. Now the trophy is estimated to be worth US$10m. The World…

England’s Football Association (FA) has revealed plans to accommodate the “B teams” of Premier League clubs further down the league system. FA chairman Greg Dyke emphasised such a move is necessary in…

So Bayern Munich won the German Bundesliga following a win against Hertha Berlin. It is the 23rd time the Bavarian club has claimed the title – and the third time in the past five years. This year is particularly…

This ‘skating palace’ was a snip at $98m.
Atos InternationalJanuary 29, 2014

There is a tendency – almost a law of nature – that governs the way the costs of large-scale international events such as the football World Cup and Olympic Games far outstrip the initial forecasts of…

English and French clubs are sprinting away from the rest.
Joe Giddens/PAJanuary 24, 2014

The Heineken Cup, European rugby union’s premier competition, faces an uncertain future. English clubs continue to woo teams from France and Wales into a rival competition, with promises of increased revenue…

For those unfamiliar with the workings of Formula 1 motor racing, No Angel, Tom Bower’s biography of the sport’s supremo Bernie Ecclestone, is a fast-paced chronology of F1 during the modern era. It reveals…

Qataris should prepare for an era of sporting success.
Owen Humphreys/PADecember 11, 2013

Three years on from winning the competition to host the World Cup, and still more than eight years out from actually hosting the tournament, Qatar 2022 is everywhere. By the time it happens it will have…